Dialogo e Solstizio

Apr 8, 2026 Written by don Giuseppe Nespeca

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Angolo dell'ottimista

"For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God who gives (to him) the Spirit without measure"

1. Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is sent by the Father into the world, becomes man by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth, and by virtue of the Holy Spirit fulfils as a man his messianic mission up to the cross and resurrection.

With reference to this truth (which was the subject of the previous catechesis), it is worth recalling the text of St Irenaeus who writes: "The Holy Spirit descended upon the Son of God, who became the Son of man, dwelling with him in the human race, resting in men, the works of God, doing the Father's will in them and transforming their old age into the newness of Christ" (St Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, III, 17, 1).

This is a very significant passage that repeats in other words what we have learnt from the New Testament, namely that the Son of God became man by the power of the Holy Spirit and in His power carried out the messianic mission, thus preparing for the sending and descent into human souls of this Spirit, who "searches the depths of God" (cf. 1 Cor 2:10), to renew and consolidate His presence and sanctifying action in human life. It is interesting that expression of Irenaeus, according to whom the Holy Spirit, working in the Son of man, "dwelt with him in the human race".

2. In the Gospel of John we read that "on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out with a loud voice: 'Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink; whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, streams of living water will flow from his bosom. This he said referring to the Spirit that believers would receive in him; for there was not yet the Spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified" (Jn 7:37-39). Jesus announces the coming of the Holy Spirit using the metaphor of "living water", because it is "the Spirit who gives life . . ." (Jn 6:63). The disciples will receive this Spirit from Jesus himself at the appropriate time, when Jesus will be "glorified": the Evangelist has in mind the Easter glorification through the cross and resurrection.

3. When that time - that is, the "hour" of Jesus - is near, during the discourse in the Upper Room, Christ resumes his proclamation, and several times promises the apostles the coming of the Holy Spirit as the new Comforter (Paraclete).

He says to them: "I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Comforter to abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he dwells with you and will be in you" (Jn 14:16-17). "The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (Jn 14:26). And further on: "When the Comforter comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me...". (Jn 15:26).

Jesus thus concludes: "If I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; but when I have gone, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convince the world of sin and righteousness and judgment . . ." (Jn 16, 7-8).

4. Densely contained in these texts is the revelation of the truth about the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son (I have dealt with this subject at length in the encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem). In summary, speaking to the apostles in the cenacle on the eve of his passion, Jesus links his approaching departure with the coming of the Holy Spirit. For Jesus it is a causal relationship: he must leave through the cross and resurrection, so that the Spirit of truth can descend upon the apostles and the entire Church as the Comforter. Then the Father will send the Spirit "in the name of the Son" will send him in the power of the mystery of redemption, which is to be accomplished through this Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore it is right to affirm, as Jesus does, that the Son himself will also send him: "the Comforter whom I will send to you from the Father" (Jn 15:26).

5. This promise made to the apostles on the eve of his passion and death, Jesus fulfilled on the very day of his resurrection. In fact, the Gospel of John narrates that, having presented himself to the disciples still in hiding in the cenacle, Jesus greeted them and while they were stunned by the extraordinary event, "he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit; and whomsoever sins you forgive, they shall be forgiven, and whomsoever sins you do not forgive, they shall remain unforgiven'" (John 20: 22-23).

In John's text there is a theological underlining that is well worth highlighting: the Risen Christ is the one who presents Himself to the apostles and "brings" the Holy Spirit to them, the one who in a certain sense "gives" Him to them in the signs of His death on the cross ("He showed them His hands and His side" (Jn 20:20)). And being "the Spirit who gives life" (Jn 6:63), the apostles receive together with the Holy Spirit the ability and power to forgive sins.

6. What happens in such a significant way on the very day of the resurrection, the other evangelists somehow extend into the following days, in which Jesus continues to prepare the apostles for the great moment, when by virtue of his departure the Holy Spirit will descend upon them in a definitive manner, so that his coming will become manifest to the world. It will also be the moment of the birth of the Church: "You will receive power from the Holy Spirit who will come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). This promise, which directly concerns the coming of the Paraclete, was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.

7. In summary we can say that Jesus Christ is the one who comes from the Father as the eternal Son, he is the one who "came forth" from the Father by becoming man through the power of the Holy Spirit. And after fulfilling his messianic mission as the Son of Man by virtue of the Holy Spirit he "goes to the Father" (cf. Jn 14:12). By going there as the Redeemer of the world, he 'gives' to his disciples and sends upon the Church for all time, the same Spirit, in whose power he acted as man. In this way Jesus Christ, as the one who "goes to the Father", through the Holy Spirit leads "to the Father" all those who will follow him throughout the ages.

8. "Raised therefore to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the Holy Spirit whom he had promised, (Jesus Christ) poured out the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:33), said the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost. "And that you are sons is proved by the fact that God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son who cries out, Abba, Father!" (Gal 4:6), wrote the Apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit, who "comes from the Father" (cf. Jn 15:26), is at the same time the Spirit of Jesus Christ: the Spirit of the Son.

9. God gave Christ the Holy Spirit "without measure", proclaims John the Baptist, according to the Fourth Gospel. And St Thomas Aquinas explains in his limpid commentary that the prophets received the Spirit "with measure", and therefore "partially" prophesied. Christ, on the other hand, has the Holy Spirit "without measure": both as God, insofar as the Father, through eternal generation, gives him to breathe the Spirit indefinitely; and as man, insofar as, through the fullness of grace, God has filled him with the Holy Spirit, so that he may pour it out in every believer (St Thomas, Super Evang. S. Ioannis Lectura, c. III, 1. 6, n. 541-544). The Angelic Doctor refers to the head of John (Jn 3:34): "For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God who gives (to him) the Spirit without measure" (according to the translation proposed by distinguished biblical scholars).

Truly we can exclaim with intimate emotion, together with the evangelist John: "From his fullness we have all received" (John 1: 16); truly we have become partakers of the life of God in the Holy Spirit.

And over this world of children of the first Adam, destined for death, we see Christ, the "last Adam", standing mightily, who has become the "life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor 15:45).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 12 August 1987]

14 Last modified on Wednesday, 08 April 2026 03:55

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don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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Romano Guardini wrote that the Lord “is always close, being at the root of our being. Yet we must experience our relationship with God between the poles of distance and closeness. By closeness we are strengthened, by distance we are put to the test” (Pope Benedict)

Romano Guardini scrive che il Signore “è sempre vicino, essendo alla radice del nostro essere. Tuttavia, dobbiamo sperimentare il nostro rapporto con Dio tra i poli della lontananza e della vicinanza. Dalla vicinanza siamo fortificati, dalla lontananza messi alla prova” (Papa Benedetto)

In recounting the "sign" of bread, the Evangelist emphasizes that Christ, before distributing the food, blessed it with a prayer of thanksgiving (cf. v. 11). The Greek term used is eucharistein and it refers directly to the Last Supper, though, in fact, John refers here not to the institution of the Eucharist but to the washing of the feet. The Eucharist is mentioned here in anticipation of the great symbol of the Bread of Life [Pope Benedict]

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First, the world of the Bible presents us with a new image of God. In surrounding cultures, the image of God and of the gods ultimately remained unclear and contradictory (Deus Caritas est n.9)

Vi è anzitutto la nuova immagine di Dio. Nelle culture che circondano il mondo della Bibbia, l'immagine di dio e degli dei rimane, alla fin fine, poco chiara e in sé contraddittoria (Deus Caritas est n.9)

God loves the world and will love it to the end. The Heart of the Son of God pierced on the Cross and opened is a profound and definitive witness to God’s love. Saint Bonaventure writes: “It was a divine decree that permitted one of the soldiers to open his sacred wide with a lance… The blood and water which poured out at that moment was the price of our salvation” (John Paul II)

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Those wounds that, in the beginning were an obstacle for Thomas’s faith, being a sign of Jesus’ apparent failure, those same wounds have become in his encounter with the Risen One, signs of a victorious love (Pope Benedict)

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